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I step between them. Cutting into a line he would have to cross to reach her.

“Keep walking. Through the door. Immediate right. Second left. Wait there.”

“But he said?—”

“Now.” The command bites.

Ellie jerks back into motion, slipping through the door just as the officer's voice sharpens into a bark, his footsteps quickening.

I turn to meet him.

Head lowered, spine hunched, just another obedient servant. Dull and unremarkable. But every inch of my stance is deliberate, my body angled to block his sightline to her. Angled to kill, if necessary.

“Sir.” I keep my voice flat, submissive.

The officer stops in front of me, irritation shadowing his features. “That woman was instructed to stop.”

“She is under care for an eye affliction, sir.” The lie forms before he can say anything more. “Too much direct sunlight worsens the condition. She is required to report to the healers after meals.”

His lips thin, eyes narrowing. He doesn’t believe me. He wants to press. Wants to dig.

“Identification,” he snaps, thrusting out a hand.

I hand over my papers, while my mind already runs through all the ways this could unravel.

I could kill him. Right here. Right now. One whispered word. And he’d drop. The temptation is strong, but I force it down. There’s a time to fight, and this is not it.

The shadows inside me stir, waiting and ready to be unleashed.

The officer barely glances at my papers before shoving them back into my hands. “Next time, you both stop when instructed. Medical condition or not. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

The contempt in his gaze is clear, but his attention is already shifting toward his next victim.

I bow my head deeper, bury the rising shadows, and step through the doorway, following the path I told Ellie to use. She’s waiting, pressed against the wall, hands covering her face. Her shoulders heaving with each unsteady breath.

I cross the space between us. “Ellie.”

She lowers her hands just enough for me to see her eyes. The silver is no longer just flecks. It floods her irises, brilliant and uncontrolled. Unmissable even to casual observers.

I immediately position myself to shield her from anyone passing by.

“I couldn’t do it.” Fear and frustration lace her voice. “When he called out, everything just?—”

“Emotional triggers are powerful.” I keep my tone even,steady. She can’t afford for me to waver. “Especially when fear and anger collide.”

“What do we do now? I can’t just walk back to my room like this!” She touches her face.

She’s right, she can’t.

“This way.”

I guide her down the hallway, scanning ahead through the narrow avenues of shadow that cling to the walls.

There. Three doors down ...

A storage room. Small. Windowless. Locked, but those are only obstacles for people who respect them.